2022/03/21 by Yungang Hu, Desheng Lan, Jingyang Wang +4 · 1 citation
Engineering · Arts and Humanities · #3D Shape Modeling and Analysis #Paleopathology and ancient diseases #Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies #Terracotta #Emperor #Portrait #Aesthetics #Archaeology #History #Ancient history #Art
paper · pdf · doi:10.1186/s40494-022-00662-0
openalex publication_date 2022/03/21 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Abstract The striking realism of the life-sized ceramic terracotta warriors has been attracting the interest of the public and archaeologists since they were discovered from the mausoleum complex of the first Chinese Emperor Qin Shihuang in the 1970s. It is still debated whether the life-size models were based on individual people or were just crafted from the standardized models. This research examined the facial features of the terracotta warriors in a quantitative and contactless way with the support of the High-precision 3D point cloud modelling technology and the anthropometric method. The similarities and dissimilarities were analyzed among the facial features of terracotta warriors and 29 modern Chinese ethnic groups using mathematical statistics methods such as MDS, ANOVA, ranking analysis and cluster analysis. The results reveal that the features of the terracotta warriors highly resemble those of contemporary Chinese people and indicate that terracotta warriors were crafted from real portraits and intended to constitute a real army to protect the Emperor Qin Shihuang in the afterlife.